SOCIAL DISCLOSURE AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIAN LISTED FIRMS

This study is a statistical examination of the relationships between social and environmental disclosures and market performance of Nigeria Top 100 Listed Firms. It uses a panel data over a 10 year period (2005 2013) and was tested for linear and non-linear relationships. As expected, no direct relationship between share returns and social disclosure was detected but, on further examination, the longitudinal data revealed a relationship between consistently high (or low) returns and a predisposition to high (or low) disclosure. The findings of this study confirmed that social and environmental issues are of limited interest to markets except where they can be identified as relevant in terms of risk or governance. On the market side there was confirmation that financial returns were the main driver behind portfolio selection. The rather depressing conclusion from this study is that the focus remains on short-term performance measures.